HTK solution cardioplegia in paediatric patients: a meta-analysis.

Introduction: Cardioplegia, a therapy designed to induce reversible cardiac arrest, revolutionised cardiovascular surgery. Among the various pharmacological approaches is the histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate (HTK) solution. Despite numerous studies, no meta-analysis has investigated the efficacy of the HTK solution in the paediatric population. Therefore, we aim to conduct a meta-analysis comparing HTK and other cardioplegia solutions in paediatric patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery.

Methods: PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched from inception through April 2024. Endpoints were computed in odds ratios (OR) with 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) for dichotomous variables, whereas continuous variables were compared using mean differences (MD) with 95% CI.

Results: 11 studies comprising 1,349 patients were included, of whom 677 (50.19%) received HTK cardioplegia. The results were similar between groups regarding mortality (OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.29, 3.29), length of hospital (MD 0.32 days; 95% CI -0.88, 1.51), MV (MD -17.72 hours; 95% IC -51.29, 15.85), arrhythmias (OR 1.27; 95% CI 0.83, 1.95;) and delayed sternal closure (OR 0.89; 95% 0.56, 1.43). However, transfusion volume was lower in the HTK group (MD -452.39; 95% CI -890.24, -14.53; p=0.04).

Conclusion: The use of HTK solution was demonstrated to be similar regarding its clinical efficacy to other approaches for cardioplegia, and it may present advantages to patients prone to hypervolemia.